It’s rather hard to imagine today, but not so long ago was a time when the streets were awash with money. Business was easy: you could buy your way into a good situation; or if things went wrong, you could usually find someone with the money to buy you out of a bad situation. Easy come, easy go. So long as you had access to money, any money, this would somehow get right.
Well as we all know, the opposite is our current reality and organic growth is king. Problem is, some folks if not many have forgotten just how this is achieved – worse yet, some have never had the chance yet to learn. And with the fast-approaching exodus of managers from the Baby Boom generation, the need to get good at innovating with what we have is at a new state of urgency. The intellectual and execution assets are there, but tapping into them to achieve meaningful outcomes will take a major shift in perspective; and engagement.
As corporations go, one of my favorite analogies is that of the circus elephant that is shackled when young – after many un-successful attempts at freeing itself, the animal abandons the effort as the discomfort of the cuff chaffing at its leg becomes too much to endure. Not realizing its brawn as an adult, the elephant mindlessly accepts its fate – despite having the mass and strength to now rip the retaining spike out of the ground in one lazy swoop.
Capital is still required for growth, but maybe we should look at an alternate currency: Innovation Capital
Corporations have an abundance of innovation capital available in the form of collective talent, energy, ingenuity, discretionary tasking and scale that can overcome the same type inertia – if they are properly accessed and channeled. And with the global credit crunch, lackluster economy and anemic employment statistics still ruling the day, the quick and permanent way out of this morass is through the self-determination and organic growth that only structured innovation can bring; regardless of size, industry or any other excuse one can choose to blame.
Can your circus elephant dance on its hind legs? Of course it can; just un-shackle it.